I Favor the Villainess. 257

Mistake

“Kill myself… you say…?”

With an expression brimming with hostility, Claire-sama glared at the Demon Queen.
In comparison, the Demon Queen responded calmly.

“That’s right. Is there some sort of problem?”
“There’s a huge problem! I made a promise with Rei, Mei and Alea! That we’d all return home together!”
“However, the fool aside, at this rate Manaria-sama and Lily-sama will die, you know?”
“The fight hasn’t been decided yet! Among us here, not a single person has given up!”
“Is that so. It appears I haven’t done enough to convince you.”

The Demon Queen raised her hand, pointing her palm upward.
Dark blades, in a quantity incomparable to what we had seen before, materialized.
There were enough blades to block out the sun’s light, darkening the entire area.
It seemed that even Claire-sama’s face had gone pale.

“So, what will it be?”

This was a threat.
If she didn’t kill herself, all of this would rain down on us.

“If I die, isn’t the world just going to end regardless? Then no matter how difficult the situation, my only option is to continue to struggle―”
“You say the end of the world, but Claire-sama, do you truly understand the specifics?”
“Eh…?”

Claire-sama’s face showed that the question had caught her off guard. It appeared that the question had brought to light something of a blindspot.

“That’s… you’re going to kill all of humanity…”
“I wouldn’t do something like that. What I plan to do is simply bring an end to human history. Simply put, stop the loops.”
“Isn’t that all the same?”
“No, it’s completely different. I have no intent to cause needless death. Until this world reaches its limits, it will likely continue to prosper. The only difference is that it will no longer unnaturally be forced to loop. This world will be released from this cursed cycle of reincarnation, that’s all.”
“…!”

Claire-sama was visibly shaken.
It seemed that she was wavering.
Questioning whether or not that truly was bad.

“Claire-sama, you mustn’t lend your ear! There’s no guarantee that she’s speaking the truth―”
“Right now, I’m the one talking to Claire-sama.”

The dark blades chasing me suddenly increased in speed, closing in on me in an instant.
Though I attempted to shoot them down with my own barrage of magic, around a dozen of them cut into me.

“Ah… kh…”
“Rei!”
“Claire-sama, think about it carefully.”

In response to Claire-sama’s outcry, the Demon Queen spoke in a tone that even seemed to contain compassion.

“If you kill yourself here, the world will only return to how it was without the loop system.”
“… And if I refuse?”
“The people you treasure will die in front of you, one by one.”
“… Why you…!”
“This isn’t the time to entrust yourself to anger. Please think about it calmly. Though I feel that among the two options you have, there should be no need to think.”

With her right hand still raised above her head, the Demon Queen pressed Claire-sama for an answer.
As Claire-sama’s teeth dug into her lips, she appeared deep in thought.
She was still hesitating.
Perhaps because the demise the Demon Queen spoke of did not sound as horrible as she had originally thought, her resolve was wavering.

“Claire-sama… you can’t…”
“Rei…?”

While still struggling on the ground, I managed to squeeze out words to continue speaking.

“Debating the continuation of humanity… that’s… not something that we should be doing on our own… If we do something like that… then what would separate our actions from what that thing is trying to do…!”
“Keep quiet.”

The Demon Queen sent another dozen or so dark blades at me.

“Aahh… Gu…hh…!”
“Rei! Demon Queen, please stop! Rei, you keep quiet!”
“No… I won’t. Demon Queen… you’re mistaken. The choice you made… there’s nothing that can be done about that now… but, what makes you unredeemable… is that you’re trying to bear everything… and do something about it all on your… own.”

Even though my body screamed in pain, I refused to stop talking.
Because at this point, that was all that I could do.

“Eternal love… you say? You really make me laugh… To you, is love… something that can be done alone…? While saying you love Claire-sama… in the end it was all self-justification. Deciding everything on your own… then despairing all on your own… what about any of that was love…!”
“You… what do you claim to know!”

The Demon Queen’s expression changed for the first time.
As hate permeated her expression, she sharply hurled words at me.

“My feelings as I almost lost my first love right in front of my eyes, my feelings as my love was crushed under the weight of eternity… How could they be understood by someone like you, who’s only lived for a couple decades!?”

Her feelings for Claire-sama were likely a sore spot for her.
But really, who cares?

“I don’t understand… I don’t even want to understand. But there is one thing that I do know.”
“Insolence―!”
“I too made the same mistake, back during the revolution. I too tried to decide everything on my own and came to the brink of ruin.”

While saying that it was all for Claire-sama’s sake, in truth, I wasn’t able to trust her.
Fearing her backlash if I told her everything, I tried to proceed while hiding it all.
The result was the disgraceful state of January 10th, 2015 Kingdom Era.

“Demon Queen, humans can’t go it alone. No matter how great their ability, error free their theories, or correct their ideals, they can only make it so far alone.
“Enough with the platitudes!”
“Platitudes? It’s not something as simple as that. Did Claire-sama never teach you? Not to escape from your ideals to settle for reality?”

As soon as those words reached her, the Demon Queen recoiled in surprise.
The Claire-sama I know, and the Claire-sama that she loved were, strictly speaking, different people. However, I was certain that her Claire-sama had said the same to her.

“No matter how tough it was, even if it would cause Claire-sama to suffer, you should have opened up and told her everything. After putting everything in the open, you two―no, everyone should have thought about it together.”

That she had refused to do so and had become alone, that was the Demon Queen’s greatest mistake.

“Yaahh…!”
“! Lily-sama…!”

Taking the opportunity as the Demon Queen’s attention was on me, Lily-sama went in for a slash.
The Demon Queen hurriedly blocked the attack with her other hand.

“Li-lily can’t do something like lecture Rei-san…no, you… but…!”
“Guh…!”
“Even so, Lily thinks that you’re making a mistake! Because you… don’t seem happy in the slightest!”

Retracting her first dagger which had been stopped, Lily-sama tried to connect her second dagger.

“I’ve! Already had enough!”

Being assaulted by the dark blades above their heads, Lily-sama was forced to retreat back.
Directly after,

“Perhaps I’ll offer my words as well, Demon Queen. I agree with Rei. You are mistaken.”
“Manaria-sama… you intend to speak such insolence as well?”

Manaria-sama came in from the opposite side.
While she only held one blade, the flash behind her swing was equivalent to even Dorothea’s.
Like a dance, her graceful slashes crossed with the Demon Queen’s defense.

“There’s no need to be fancy, just one phrase is enough. You are the one who abandoned everything except for Claire, the one who hasn’t given up anything is Rei―that’s all there is to it.”
“I don’t understand, Manaria-sama!”

The Demon Queen slammed down her dark blades at Manaria-sama.
Without trying to contest them directly, Manaria-sama used her earlier momentum to withdraw.
Retreating back to my position, while she kept stance with her sword in one hand, she used the other to heal me.

“You can keep going, right?”
“Yes.”
“As expected of my Rei.”
“I’m Claire-sama’s though.”

As we exchanged jokes, I stood.

“… So none of you will listen… Claire-sama, you’ll regret it. That you didn’t kill yourself now.”

The air around the Demon Queen seemed to turn grim.
I wondered what she’d do next.

“Hey, Rei.”
“Claire-sama…?”

Before I realized it, Claire-sama had come to stand by my side.
With a face that told me that she had made up her resolve, she spoke to me.

“We promised right? That we’d all return home together.”
“Of course, what about it?”
“Will you… believe in me?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Then, things might be tough for a bit, so I’ll apologize in advance.”
“… Claire-sama?”
“However, I will keep my promise no matter what.”

With only those words, Claire-sama smiled at me before walking forward.

―After tossing her magic wand at me.

“Claire-sama!?”
“Claire!?”
“C-claire-sama!?”

With a stride that contained no hesitation, Claire-sama walked toward the Demon Queen.

“… What is the meaning of this, Claire-sama?”
“I’ve come to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“What I need to do, in order to stop you.”
“You know I won’t stop.”
“Demon Queen… No, the other Rei. Listen carefully.”

Claire-sama, who had spoken those words, was now right in front of the Demon Queen.

“!?”

The Demon Queen’s eyes widened in shock.
Suddenly, Claire-sama pulled the Demon Queen in for an embrace.
Stroking the Demon Queen’s back with her hands, Claire-sama continued.

“I’m sure everyone has thoughts like wanting their love to continue forever… However, humans simply aren’t built to love that long.”
“Claire-sama…? What exactly… are you…?”

Claire-sama held the Demon Queen tightly.
The Demon Queen was mystified.
And then―

―Claire-sama used her magic to form a Flame Lance behind her, piercing the Demon Queen’s body along with her own.

“Ah… Guh…? Claire…sama…?”
“Even so… I love you, Rei.”

As we stood dumbfounded, the Demon Queen’s incoherent mutters and Claire-sama’s affectionate voice were all that silently echoed.

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Translator Comment: (INTERNAL SCREAMING)

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